Howard Galganov tells crowd 'Start acting like Canadians'

MONTREAL — If the escalation of linguistic tension under the Parti Québécois government can be expected to draw the “angryphones” back into action, it remains to be seen whether a newly reconstituted Equality Party — calling itself Equality Party 2.0 — will have the backing to speak for them.

About 40 people — approximately one-quarter of the room’s capacity — showed up to hear the party’s key officials and its invited speaker, English-rights activist Howard Galganov, at a rally Sunday afternoon at the Hampton Inn in Dorval.

In its original incarnation, the provincial party sent four members to the National Assembly in 1989 — the only year any of its candidates were elected in Quebec. It has been moribund for 10 years.

Galganov recalled a speech he made to the original Equality Party in which he removed the Quebec flag, stating he would not speak beside a swastika or a fleur-de-lis. And he carried on by scolding his hosts.

“You’re not a political party,” he said. “No one cares about another party that’s going to talk about education, transportation, health care. They have that. The people who are going to vote for you are going to vote for you because you’re going to fight for them. You are an English-language party. Period. And if you don’t like it, get the hell out of Quebec.”

Quebec is a fascist government that is taking control of our lives.

Galganov criticized the party representatives for speaking in French at the rally. “They hate you. They don’t want you here. They want your money,” he said, apparently referring to the government. He added that he would remove the French version of the party’s name from the banner.

And his connection with the audience wasn’t warm and fuzzy, either. “You are Canadians. Start acting like Canadians. Stop acting like a minority. Stop coming to meetings like this,” he said. “I left Quebec 13 years ago. I didn’t leave here because of the French population (or) the French media, (or) the French government. I left Quebec because of the anglos, because people prefer to sit on their ass and criticize.

“Quebec is done,” he said. “It has a long history of racism. Pick your target. Stand up for yourselves. Don’t make excuses for yourselves. Don’t play their game.”
Bergeron and Bedoucha adopted a calmer tone, as did Shebbeare, who announced that he had left the Office québécois de la langue anglaise to develop the Quebec Anglophone Community page on Facebook and help the Equality Party.

All three speakers alternated easily between English and French. And all returned to the theme of equal rights as an issue for all Quebecers, not simply anglos.

But conciliation was not on the agenda. “Quebec is a fascist government that is taking control of our lives,” Bedoucha said. “If you’re not there fighting it, you’re part of the problem.”

“Eighty per cent of people who live here know it’s a bilingual city,” Shebbeare said. “But our political elite, playing their politics of division, are disconnected with Montreal. Quebec does not belong to one ethnicity. It belongs to everybody.”

“We are Canadian and will remain Canadian,” Bergeron said. “Should Quebec separate, we will fight for partition.”
“This Equality Party is going to rock boats — or it’s not going to exist,” Finkelstein said.

Speaking to the Gazette after the rally, Bergeron admitted he was disappointed with the turnout, but said he was not surprised. “It’s typical of the anglophone community to sit back and bitch and whine and no one actually get(s) out there.”

As for Galganov’s statements, he said the party’s guest speaker told it like it is.